Watching Birds
by fiesa
Summary: It was hard to remember sometimes that Iggy was blind. Ella loves to describe what she sees. Iggy loves to listen to her. OneShot.


_A/N_

_There´s just one single reference to a future relationship between Ella and Iggy! And of course, everyone jumped, and I jumped along happily!^^_

_Set: In the future, no spoilers, no references_

_Disclaimer: *sigh* I own cold feet. Once again. I don´t own Max and the flock._

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Watching Birds

„Mommy! Mommy! Look – there!"

Ella was practically bouncing with energy. Dr. Martinez finished rinsing the dishes and stepped up to her five-years-old daughter, who was waving at something she couldn´t see. A smile played around her face – she had a good idea of what was giving her daughter fits of excitement.

"They´re here! The birds!"

Really, from where Ella sat, she had a great view over their little front-yard. A few days ago, Dr. Martinez had bought a little stone basin and a water pump and had started to design a little pond. It still was under construction – with her little daughter and her job as a veterinarian she rarely had time for gardening – but already, the water was flowing, gurgling quietly like laughter in the calm summer afternoon. Ella´s finger was pointing at a few little birds – brown and tan and white feathers and blue throats and black beaks and spread wings – who were taking a bath in the water, warmed by the afternoon sun. The little birds were shaking their wings and splashing water everywhere.

"They like to bath", she said and smiled at her daughter. "Just like you."

"They´re so cute!", Ella squealed. "There! They´re fighting!"

Two black-feathered birds were shrieking at each other loudly. Each of them refused to back away, until the one launched into the air and chased away the other one in a wide arc. Then it came back and sat at the edge of the basin, still as a statue, savoring the warmth of the stone and the sun. Smaller birds came and dipped their beaks into the water, one time, two times, until they took off again, chirping and flapping and flying small circles in the sun.

Ella watched, fascinated. Dr. Martinez sighted quietly and watched the birds, too. This sure brought back memories… She shook herself out of her reverie.

"You like birds, don´t you, Ella?"

"Yes!"

Her daughter´s eyes were bright with joy.

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"Iggy! There! The birds!"

Ella caught herself just in time, so she wouldn´t add a happy "Look!" Sometimes it was really hard not to forget the fact that Iggy _was_ blind. He was so sensitive to his surroundings, so attentive; he almost got everything that was going on around him. It was hard to remember he had lost his sight long ago.

He probably had a good idea of what she was thinking, because he smiled at her and turned his head in her direction.

"Where?"

They were sitting in the kitchen of her mom´s house. It was one of their rare visits – one of the rare occasions the flock and Ella were there at the same time, because with her new job as a veterinarian´s assistant and the flock´s constant efforts to save the world, finding some time for family gatherings sure had proved to be difficult. But now she could hear her mom and her half-sister talking in the living-room, she knew Angel and Nudge were somewhere upstairs, in her old room, and Gazzy and Dylan were out, picking up the pizza they had ordered. Iggy and she were the only persons in the kitchen.

"At the pond in the garden", she told him. She had gotten used to describing everything she saw in detail. It made her happy – and it made Iggy able to _see_ almost as much as her.

"You know – the one Mom made when I was five? It´s pretty wild, nowadays, I guess with her work and the CSM she hasn´t had much time to take care of it. But there are some awesome pond roses, all magenta and with white specks and really beautiful. They´re just opening up. And the stone basin´s still there – that´s where the birds take their bath. There´s a little sparrow, brownish and with black streaks, and it´s splashing the water all over the garden – sheesh, it doesn´t seem to get enough! It keeps dipping his beak in and shaking its head in order to get the water all over himself. It´s really funny! And there´s another one, a robin, you know – the creamy little ones with bright red throat feathers… It´s shy, it stays at the edge and only drinks a bit – or at least that´s what it looks like. There comes a bigger one – and the small one takes off! Woah, it sure can fly prettily! It angled downward and landed in the old oak. The big bird, a magpie**,** is black and has white and blue stripes on its wings. When the sun touches its feathers, it gleams like a diamond. It wants to keep the pond to itself, chases away all the other ones…"

Ella looked back at Iggy and saw him smiling at her brightly. "You want me to stop?", she asked. "Nope", he answered, still smiling. "Go on. I can really see them, you know… Your descriptions get better and better."

She _almost_ was glad he couldn´t see her blushing.

"And there – oh, God, you guys really do look like birds from afar. I guess that´s Gazzy and Dylan up there… They´ll be there soon. Oh…"

She inhaled sharply.

Iggy tensed.

"What?"

"Oh", she whispered again. "There´s an ice-bird! Iggy, those are so rare! I´ve never seen one before – they normally live near little rivers. They´re really, really shy!"

Iggy practically felt her surprise and joy spread. It made his body tingle all over.

"What does it look like?"

She was already describing.

"It´s a really small bird, like my fist."

She let him feel her hand. Not that he needed to.

"It has little, black eyes and white and tan plumage. Its chest feathers are golden, and it´s plumage is so blue! Almost turquoise, like the stone in Nudge´s necklace you touched yesterday. It´s drinking – and now it´s cocking it´s head, like it´s listening – my god! It´s looking at us! Iggy…"

She fell into stunned silence. Iggy didn´t dare to breathe. Then the tension in her shoulders seemed to loosen up.

"There it goes", she told him. "It´s really, really pretty. I wish you could see it…"

"It´s okay", he said gently and touched her hand. "I saw it trough your eyes."

He could feel her smiling.

"So what´s your favorite bird?", he asked. Ella didn´t answer. His brows rose. Closing his eyes, he tried to get a mental picture of the woman sitting next to him. Heat emitted from her face.

"It´s stupid", she mumbled.

"What did you say?"

Of course he had heard her. His hearing was enhanced, trained by the missing eye-sight.

"Did you know that seeing an ice-bird grants you a wish?"

"Tell me."

"I don´t…"

"Tell me."

"You. You are."

Ella thought it astounding that he could just lean over like that, actually knowing where exactly she was. His hands cupped her head, tangled in her hair.

He knew exactly where her lips were.

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_You´re my eyes._

_You´re all I need._

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End file.
